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Investing.com - A move by the Federal Reserve to allocate a "modest share" of its long-run balance sheet to loans or repos could improve both the efficiency and effectiveness of policy implementation, Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan has argued.
Speaking at a conference in London, Logan added that auctioning off a fixed quantity of discount-window loans each day may "encourage banks’ operational readiness" and demonstrate that borrowing is a "normal activity" for healthy companies.
"Such a facility might also smooth the redistribution of reserves around the banking system," Logan said.
In recent years, the Fed has moved to persuade lenders to take advantage of its so-called "discount-window" loans, which offer cash to banks that need immediate liquidity in exchange for collateral like business loans.
Banks, however, have balked at the idea, viewing it as a possible indicator of distress to its competitors and stakeholders. Some Fed officials have said this belief could deprieve smaller banks and the broader financial system of possible access to a liquidity backstop.
Logan stressed that the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee is not considering any changes to how it implements policy, flagging that even beginning to mull over "such a tool" would require substantial conversation among policymakers as well as analysis and "learning from the experience of other central banks."
The comments come after minutes from the Fed’s last meeting in January indicated that policymakers weighed slowing or temporarily halting a drawdown in its balance sheet because of uncertainty over how the U.S. Treasury will manage debt issuance in the coming months.
Logan, who did not deliver comments on the Fed’s interest rate outlook, said that the central bank’s mix of maturities on its balance sheet should approximate that of the debt issued by the U.S. Treasury. She added that the Fed is currently tilted toward longer-dated securities.
"Roughly matching the duration of our assets and liabilities would reduce these fluctuations and could, thus, enhance the effectiveness of policy communications," Logan said.
(Reuters contributed reporting.)